The Black-tip Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) is a species of shark of the family Carcharhinidae, easily identified by the black tips of its fins, especially on the first dorsal fin and the caudal fin. It is one of the most abundant sharks in the tropical coral reefs of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. This species prefers shallow coastal waters and frequently exposes its first dorsal fin in these areas. Most Black-tipped Sharks live on reef margins and sandy bottoms, but they are also known to support brackish or freshwater environments. This species generally reaches a length of 1.6 m. Black-tip Sharks are sedentary and live in very small areas and may remain in the same area for several years. They are active predators of small bone fish, cephalopods and crustaceans, and are also known to feed on marine snakes and seabirds. The data collected concerning the life cycle of the Black-tip Shark are sometimes contradictory and there appear to be significant differences depending on the geographical location within the range of the species. Like other members of its family, this shark is viviparous and females give birth to between two and five young babies every two years, every year or sometimes twice a year. Indeed, according to its habitat the gestation period of this shark can be 7-9 months, 10-11 months or 16 months. Newborns live in coastal waters and in shallower waters than adults, often forming large groups in areas flooded by high tides. Shy and capricious, the Black-tip Shark is difficult to approach and rarely represents a danger to humans, unless it is excited by food. However, bathers in shallow waters can sometimes have their legs bitten by mistake. This shark is fished for its meat, fins and liver oil, but is not considered to be a commercially important species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature assessed the near threatened species. Although the species as a whole remains widespread and relatively common, overfishing of this shark and its slow rate of reproduction has led to its decline in a number of localities.
Grey reef sharks are fast-swimming, agile predators that feed primarily on free-swimming bony fishes and cephalopods. Their aggressive demeanor enables them to dominate many other shark species on the reef, despite their moderate size. Many grey reef sharks have a home range on a specific area of the reef, to which they continually return. However, they are social rather than territorial. During the day, these sharks often form groups of five to 20 individuals near coral reef drop-offs, splitting up in the evening as the sharks begin to hunt. Adult females also form groups in very shallow water, where the higher water temperature may accelerate their growth or that of their unborn young. Like other members of its family, the grey reef shark is viviparous, meaning the mother nourishes her embryos through a placental connection. Litters of one to six pups are born every other year.
Blacktip reef sharks, Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy and Gaimard, 1824), are small sharks measuring up to 1.8 m with short, bluntly-rounded snouts, oval eyes, and narrow-cusped teeth. They have 2 dorsal fins and no interdorsal ridges. Juveniles (< 70 cm) are yellow-brown on their dorsal (upper) sides, white on their ventral (under) sides; adults are brownish-gray and white, respectively. All their fins have conspicuous black or dark brown tips, and posterior (rear) dark edges on their pectoral fins and their upper lobe of their caudal (tail) fins. The prominent black tips of their first dorsal fin contrasts with a light band below it; a conspicuous dark band on their flanks which extends to their pelvic fins. Maximum weight: 24 kg; frequents depth ranges from the surface to 75 m.
Although they only grow to about 1.6 to 3 meters (5 to 10 feet) in length, these sharks are the apex predators on the very delicate coral reefs. That means, around coral reefs, they are the top of the food chain. The significants of this goes largely unnoticed, but theWorld Wildlife Fund has classified the Reef Shark as one of the most important species on the entire planet!
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Another danger posed to humans by the Caribbean reef shark involves the accumulation of toxins in the flesh of the shark. Since sharks are apex marine predators, they may contain toxic levels of mercury and other heavy metals due to bioaccumulation (increasing concentrations at higher levels in the food web). It was found that methylmercury levels (MeHg) in sharks off the coast of Florida were higher than the FDA guidelines.
This species is commonly found in shallow waters on and near coral reefs and occasionally in brackish waters. Juveniles are typically found in extremely shallow water (±15 to 100 cm) inside lagoons, often swimming along the shoreline; adults typically occur on shallow parts of the forereef, often moving over the reef crest and onto the reef flat at flood tide. Individual adults inhabit a relatively small home range of ±2.5 km2 and appear to reside close to their home reef but occasionally cross deepwater channels between adjacent reefs.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the Caribbean reef shark as Near Threatened; its population has declined off Belize and Cuba from overfishing and exploitation continues in other regions. They are also threatened by the degradation and destruction of their coral reef habitat.[1] Commercial fishing for this species is prohibited in United States waters.[4] They are protected in the Bahamas due to their significance to ecotourism, as well as in a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) off Brazil and elsewhere. However, enforcement against illegal fishing is lacking in some of these reserves, and many areas in which this species is abundant are not protected.[1]

Caribbean reef sharks are prohibited from being caught by commercial fishers in U.S. waters, however harvest of these sharks may be permissible in other countries. During the past few decades, an increasingly popular (and even more controversial) commercial aspect of the Caribbean reef shark has emerged. To increase clientele, many dive-boat operations have come to include shark-feeding dives as a part of their agenda, with some of the most popular sites being main habitats of Caribbean reef sharks. Although new regulations prohibit such feedings off the coast of Florida, no such restrictions have been placed on operations in Bahamian or other Caribbean waters.
The Caribbean reef shark infrequently attacks humans. In general, a shark attack on a human is behaviorally similar to an attack upon natural prey. A human is more susceptible to being attacked if the shark is cornered and feels that there is no escape route. In situations like these, the shark may rake the victim during the attack resulting in lacerations.
Off Enewetak, grey reef sharks exhibit different social behaviors on different parts of the reef. Sharks tend to be solitary on shallower reefs and pinnacles. Near reef drop-offs, loose aggregations of five to 20 sharks form in the morning and grow in number throughout the day before dispersing at night. In level areas, sharks form polarized schools (all swimming in the same direction) of around 30 individuals near the sea bottom, arranging themselves parallel to each other or slowly swimming in circles. Most individuals within polarized schools are females, and the formation of these schools has been theorized to relate to mating or pupping.[25][26]
But another potential cause is that these sharks are skittish around people. So when too many people move into the area, the reef sharks flee to other coral reefs. Indeed, the researchers found far more sharks at small, isolated reefs than they expected. But this in itself is a danger to the reef sharks. With so many sharks concentrated in a small area, “if you really wanted to, you could fish out a few hundred sharks very easily,” said Friedlander.
During mating, the male grey reef shark will bite at the female's body or fins to hold onto her for copulation.[13] Like other requiem sharks, it is viviparous: once the developing embryos exhaust their supply of yolk, the yolk sac develops into a placental connection that sustains them to term. Each female has a single functional ovary (on the right side) and two functional uteruses. One to four pups (six in Hawaii) are born every other year; the number of young increases with female size. Estimates of the gestation period range from 9 to 14 months. Parturition is thought to take place from July to August in the Southern Hemisphere and from March to July in the Northern Hemisphere. However, females with "full-term embryos" have also been reported in the fall off Enewetak. The newborns measure 45–60 cm (18–24 in) long. Sexual maturation occurs at around seven years of age, when the males are 1.3–1.5 m (4.3–4.9 ft) long and females are 1.2–1.4 m (3.9–4.6 ft) long. Females on the Great Barrier Reef mature at 11 years of age, later than at other locations, and at a slightly larger size. The lifespan is at least 25 years.[4][20][24]
Reproduction is viviparous; once the developing embryos exhaust their supply of yolk, the yolk sac develops into a placental connection through which they receive nourishment from their mother. Mating is apparently an aggressive affair, as females are often found with biting scars and wounds on their sides.[4] At the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago and Atol das Rocas off Brazil, parturition takes place at the end of the dry season from February to April, while at other locations in the Southern Hemisphere, females give birth during the Amazon summer in November and December.[4][12] The average litter size is four to six, with a gestation period of one year. Females become pregnant every other year.[8] The newborns measure no more than 74 cm (29 in) long; males mature sexually at 1.5–1.7 m (59–67 in) long and females at 2–3 m (79–118 in).[4]

Are there so few reef sharks because of human activities such as fishing and finning, or were there never very many to start with? To answer this question, a team of marine biologists (which did not include Friedlander) decided to count reef sharks at coral reefs close and far to human settlements to better understand how humans impact their populations.

Adults begin to reproduce once they attain a size of 2 to 3 meters (female) or 1.5 to 1.7 meters (male). They reproduce once per year but childbirth is biennial since the females get pregnant every other year. The reproduction method is Viviparous which means the pups develop inside of the mother. There is evidence that the reproduction method is aggressive and violent since many female Caribbean Reef Sharks have been found with deep wounds on their sides during mating season. These wounds are caused by bites and heal in time leaving large and highly visible scars.

The Caribbean Reef Shark is known to become aggressive in the presence of food, but they are mostly only considered dangerous to humans because of its size. This shark was fished in Belize for almost the entire 20th century. They were used to make local delicacies in addition to liver oil (mostly used in cosmetics). Their low reproduction rate combined with a high level of hunting and fishing have caused the numbers to dwindle. The shark is now considered to be near threatened. Many countries and organizations have banned the commercial fishing of this species.

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Blacktip reef sharks are fast, pursuit predators that prefer reef fishes, but also feeds on stingrays, crabs, mantis shrimps and other crustaceans, cephalopods, and other mollusks. In the Maldives, this species has been documented feeding cooperatively on small schooling fishes, herding them against the shore and feeding en masse. Feeds heavily on sea snakes in northern Australia. A large individual (1.6 m) was observed attacking a green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, in North Male’ Atoll, Maldives.

Based on morphological similarities, Jack Garrick in 1982 grouped this species with the bignose shark (C. altimus) and the sandbar shark (C. plumbeus), while Leonard Compagno in 1988 placed it as the sister species of the grey reef shark (C. amblyrhynchos). A phylogenetic analysis based on allozyme data, published by Gavin Naylor in 1992, indicated that the Caribbean reef shark is the sister taxon to a clade formed by the Galapagos shark (C. galapagensis), dusky shark (C. obscurus), oceanic whitetip shark (C. longimanus), and the blue shark (Prionace glauca). However, more work is required to fully resolve the interrelationships within Carcharhinus.[3]

Every year, Reef Check trains thousands of citizen scientist divers who volunteer to survey the health of coral reefs around the world, and rocky reef ecosystems along the entire coast of California. The results are used to improve the management of these critically important natural resources. Reef Check programs provide ecologically sound and economically sustainable solutions to save reefs, by creating partnerships among community volunteers, government agencies, businesses, universities and other nonprofits.